Started this thread under another post but not much response. Need suggestions for 20GBP pp for dinner. Looked at Harden's, not much available, but a few restaurants. The restaurants listed in Fodor's as between 7-25 GBP are deceiving as I am told many, such as The Ivy, as considerably more than that. Surely there must be SOMETHING between curry or noodle shops and dinner at the Ritz. We are staying in Kensington, but willing to go almost anywhere at this point. Anyone heard of the following:

Scandies - Gloucester Road
The Firehouse Restaurant - near Vic & Albert Museum
Meridiana

Manicomio at Sloan SQ and Khan's of Kensington (near the S. Kensington tube) were recommended by my DIL a Brit chef. Both were greatin July.
Racine, a FR place near Harrod's was more expensive and less interesting.
M

there are many inexpensive places in London -- and not just noodle houses. But they do take some searching. Time Out publishes a wonderful little, pocket-sized reference book. "Cheap eats in London". this book can be found an most large US book stores or on-line.

It lists reviews of over 700 restaurants -- all with meals under £20 pp. It also has maps so you can check it while you are out and about sightseeing/shopping.

A couple of places I like in S. Kensington are Aglio e Olio (hope I'm spelling that right) on Fulham Rd. for yummy Italian, and Jakob's on Gloucester Rd. which is a middle eastern deli/cafe.

BUT -- you will probably find you don't often eat right near your hotel - you will be all over London at all hours of the day/night, so having a handy reference w/ listings by district is a BIG help.

For a great deal on dining, I've always enjoyed the Stockpot restaurants in London (Frommer's recommends them). If you're staying in Kensington, I think the one on King's Road is probably closest. They have so many entrees that you'll easily find something to enjoy and their wines are very nice and inexpensive. They will ask if you are willing to share a table. If you'd rather not, just say no and you may have to wait a bit longer; they're always busy. However, the turnover is extraordinarily quick; you won't wait long. Also, lots of pubs serve quite good food. For heaps of atmosphere, try dining at Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese in Fleet Street. You can just imagine Dickens popping in. The sticky toffee pudding is to die for. But go on a weeknight; only one small dining room is open on the weekend.

Sorry, should have added: wander through Soho -- TONS of budget Italian and Chinese places with perfectly good (often delicious) food.

I always enjoy Wagamama behind Selfridges on Oxford St even tho it is a noodle shop! For good Middle Eastern Maroush at Knightsbridge (the one at Marble Arch is a bit shady). Harvey Nichols 5th floor cafe is a lovely place for lunch - not sure how late it is open and cannot imagine it is as charming at night - get a table near the window. Pizza Promodoro (sp?) again near Knightsbridge somewhere is great too.

Lauralue
Does your £20 pp need to include wine/ drinks or is that for the food only?
And are you willing to dine early (seated and ordered by anywhere between 6pm and 7pm depending on restaurant)?
If so then you have many options.
Many restaurants offer pre-theatre dining menus that are within your budget - you should be able to see which offer this on toptable or londoneating websites.
Ethnic restaurants such as Indian, Chinese, Thai etc should also fit your budget without any problem at all.

You can check out Chez Gerard, a chain of restaurants that some say (some of the guide books that is) have the best steak frites in town....several branches, one near Green Park underground another at Convent Garden

Then there's Yo! Sushi which has opened up several branches and to some has gone down; a conveyor belt sushi operation. There is a much better one called Kulu Kulu which has a branch across from the Regents Palace Hotel in Picadilly and another branch two blocks from Convent Garden underground. This one has to be good as you see naitive Japanese people there.

Then there are loads of good chinese restaurants in China town (on a parallel street to Shaftsbury Avenue between Picadilly Circus and Leicster Square)..lots of restaurants with interesting menus slightly different from the Chinese food I'm used to in the US.

Of course there are the usual chains you might be familiar with from home such as Pizza Hut (actually not really all that bad) all over the place.

There is another French chain called Cafe Rouge which local publications swear at and when I made that point once upon a year, several jumped at me to say they were pretty good.

Stay away from the Angus or Aberdeen Steak Houses which are tourist rip offs and pretty bad.

Wagamam is an upscale type noodle place with interesting dishes; a similar operation is called Satsuma which is near the Queens Theatre where Les Miz is playing; at least I find the selection is more varied than Wagamama.

But of course tastes are very individual. I like the restaurants I noted above, I am sure some or many will disagree.

My family & myself love Keith Richards sticky fngers restaurant just off Kensington High street. There's everything from hamburger's to lamb chops & gigantic steaks. As far as I know they don't accept reservations & it's always packed but well worth the wait.
Look up the restaurant web site on a search machine.

I've just remembered the website address its:
www.stickyfingers.co.uk

peas...it's just one of those things.

why do they eat so many chicken wings in cleveland?

sorry, my last response was meant for a different thread.

<b>www.balticrestaurant.co.uk</b>

What a ridiculous piece of advice. Baltic, despite it's South London location is a super restaurant that offers a rather unique (along with its sister restaurants) type of wholesome cuisine. However, you'd be lucky to get away with less than thirty pounds per head, and that'd be drinking water. It's really an eighty pounds per couple restaurant with a cheap bottle of wine.

Here are a couple of restaurants I particularly liked (hopefully they're still in business??) This was in 1999 so prices are probably higher but still should be within your price range.

Carriages ? Bressendon &amp; Buckingham Palace Rd. ? steak, 12 lbs + wine

Spaghetti House ? on Bressendon one block in from Victoria St. - house special (calamari) includes salad &amp; wine - 8 lbs

These are located near Victoria Station. If you like sushi, Yo Sushi is another fun, good food restaurant.

Just off Kensington High Street is Maggie Jones, tons of atmosphere, and good &quot;old fashioned&quot; English cooking with a few newer twists. Great roasts, lots of veggies, super traditional desserts all served in rustic farmhouse atmosphere amongst dried flowers and candlelight (which always seemed like a dangerous combination to me). Within your price range.

Strada is a couple of year old chain serving pizza and pasta which are reasonably attractive places to eat. Lunch at around GBP8 with choice of 3 starters and 3 mains is served until 7pm - one of the best value meals in London in my view. After 7pm mains are around GBP7-9. (They also provide without asking a continually provided bottle of filtered water ). I have eaten at 3 different locations in past year and found the food always of good quality, and far better with bigger portions then slightly cheaper but often overrated Pizza Express.

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Carriages ? Bressendon &amp; Buckingham Palace Rd. ? steak, 12 lbs + wine
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a 12 lb steak, that must have been huge! hope you got a &quot;doggy bag&quot;.

Thanks for all the great suggestions. A friend recommended a restaurant called Porters, which offers a set dinner and theatre ticket for 25 GBP pp. The only tickets available were to a show called Stomp, which sounded appealing to our teenagers. Anyone been there? Positive/negative comments?

&gt;a 12 lb steak, that must have been huge! hope you got a &quot;doggy bag&quot;.&lt;

Oh goodness. Keep your day job.